This soft, squeezable cleansing balm is rich and creamy, melts into a stunning cleanser once you start working with it, and leaves your skin feeling refreshed and just a touch minty. I love it first thing in the morning to help me hit the ground running!
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I’ve now tried oil cleansing in bottles, pots, and push-up tubes, so I figured a squeeze tube was next. The consistency would need to be less firm than something I’d put in a pot or a push-up tube so it could be squeezed through the a small orifice at the end of a squeeze tube. It would also need to work well after mostly cooling in the tube, as I wanted to be able to pour it into the tube when it was still quite liquidy—this need steered me away from including clays or other ingredients that would need to be suspended in the end product.
Our emulsifiers are a simple blend of a solid emulsifying wax and a liquid solubilizer, to a combined total of 10% for a relatively gentle cleanser. We include emulsifiers in cleansing balms because they are our cleansing agents. Emulsifiers are double-ended molecules; one end loves water, and the other end loves oil. The oil loving end gets all groovy with the stuff on your face you’re looking to wash off, and the water loving end means you can easily wash it all away.
The bulk of the cleanser is inexpensive oils; a blend of fractionated coconut oil and castor oil (which also helps boost the cleansing power of the balm). I’m often asked about including expensive oils in cleansing balms, and while you can, I consider it to be a pretty big waste of nice oils. A cleansing balm is on your skin for maybe a minute before getting washed down the drain—why waste your lovely, pricey oils on such a thing? Save them for something that’ll actually stay on your skin, where you’ll get some bang for your buck.
Cleansing balms and oils are a great place to use up oils that are on their way out in the freshness category as you’ll use lots of them, and if you use the product once or twice a day, you’ll go through the product quickly as well. So, if you’ve got a ton of a fancy oil you need to use up ASAP I suppose this is a good project for that… though it still makes me wince a bit 😝
I’ve chosen cetearyl alcohol as our thickener because it makes things wonderfully fluffy and cloud-like, which was just what I wanted for this project. If you don’t have it you can try a blend of cetyl alcohol and stearic acid instead (perhaps 2.2% cetyl alcohol, 8.8% stearic acid?) , though I’d encourage you to double-check the consistency before transferring it to a squeeze tube just in case it needs adjusting! Additionally, if you live somewhere drastically hotter or cooler than I do, you may want to increase or decrease the amount of thickener by a few percentage points, increasing the fractionated coconut oil in turn. For reference: this recipe uses 11% cetearyl alcohol, while my solid Forest Cleansing Balm uses 19% stearic acid and 5% cetyl alcohol for a total of 24% thickeners to solidify it.
The making part is simple—weigh, melt, let it cool a bit, stir in our cool down ingredients, and transfer to your tube. You’ll be rewarded with a satisfyingly squishy tube of cleansing goodness in no time!
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Eucalyptus Mint Soft Cleansing Balm
Heated phase
3g | 6% Emulsifying Wax NF (USA / Canada / AU)
2g | 4% Polysorbate 80 (USA / Canada)
31g | 62% fractionated coconut oil
8g | 16% castor oil (USA / Canada)
5.5g | 11% cetearyl alcohol (USA / Canada) (mine is 30% cetyl/70% stearyl)Cool down phase
0.25g | 0.5% Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada)
0.25g | 0.5% eucalyptus radiata essential oil
0.125g | 0.25% peppermint (Mentha Piperita) essential oilPrepare a water bath by bringing about 3cm/1″ of water to a bare simmer over low to medium-low heat in a small saucepan.
Weigh the heated phase ingredients into a small heat-resistant glass measuring cup. Place the measuring cup in your prepared water bath to melt everything through.
After about 20–30 minutes everything should be completely melted through. Remove the water bath from the heat, remove the measuring cup from the water bath, and dry it off with a dish towel. Stir with a flexible silicone spatula to incorporate. Set the measuring cup on a dish towel and leave to cool on the countertop for about ten minutes.
Once the mixture has cooled a bit, stir in your cool down ingredients. Now you’re ready to transfer it into your container! I used a 50mL squeeze tube (USA / Canada). I popped mine in the fridge for about ten minutes at this point to kick-start the full cooling process, taking it out every few minutes to give it a bit of a squeeze and a shake (mostly because I can’t leave well enough alone) before removing it from the fridge to cool completely to room temperature.
To use, dispense a small amount of product into your palm (roughly the amount of toothpaste ads tell you to use). I like to blend it up with some warm water in my palms before massaging it into my face, but you can also apply the balm straight to the skin and then rinse it off with water. I find this one rinses beautifully if you incorporate water in your palms—I didn’t need a cloth to rinse it off, just some splashing and wiping with my hands.
Shelf Life & Storage
Because this salve is 100% oil based, it does not require a broad-spectrum preservative (broad spectrum preservatives ward off microbial growth, and microbes require water to live—no water, no microbes!). Kept reasonably cool and dry (the container really helps keep this format of cleansing balm from getting wet, yay!), it should last at least a year before any of the oils go rancid. If you notice it starts to smell like old nuts or crayons, that’s a sign that the oils have begun to oxidize; chuck it out and make a fresh batch if that happens.
Substitutions
As always, be aware that making substitutions will change the final product. While these swaps won’t break the recipe, you will get a different final product than I did.
- As I’ve provided this recipe in percentages as well as grams you can easily calculate it to any size using a simple spreadsheet as I’ve explained in this post. As written in grams this recipe will make 50g.
- Polawax (USA / Canada)) will work well in place of emulsifying wax NF. You could also try other complete emulsifying waxes like Olivem1000 and BTMS-50.
- Cromollient SCE would work well instead of Polysorbate 80. You could also try Olivem300 (USA / Canada) (NOT 1000!).
- You can use any inexpensive, lightweight liquid oil in place of the fractionated coconut oil, like sweet almond, grapeseed, or sunflower seed.
- If you don’t like castor oil you can replace that with another inexpensive oil as well
- You can try a blend of cetyl alcohol and stearic acid in place of the cetearyl alcohol, but please be sure to check the consistency before putting it in tubes lest it be too thick and get stuck! I’ve provided guidelines for a blend of both cetyl and stearic in the post. You may want to refer to my experiments with cetyl and stearic if you wish to use just one.
- You can use eucalyptus globulus essential oil instead of eucalyptus radiata
- You can also use an entirely different scent blend if you prefer, or leave it unscented. If you drop the essential oils, make up the 0.75% with more fractionated coconut oil.
This looks lovely, Marie! I’m a big fan of cleansing with oil, but I’ve always found the texture a little too heavy – I always feel like my face isn’t really “clean” afterwards. This rinse-off balm looks like it’s going to be just the thing for me – thank you!
Thanks, Anna! I hope you love it 🙂 Happy making!
This looks really cool and I’d like to make it (I love the green washi tape around the squeeze tube- it’s so cute), but I don’t have a squeeze tube unfortunately. Anyway, you mentioned in the post that you could potentially substitute cetearyl alcohol with 2.2% cetyl alcohol and 8.8g stearic acid (did you perhaps mean 8.8%?) and I just wanted to confirm that you did mean to write that, considering you only have 5g cetearyl alcohol, so that seems like a lot of stearic acid. Thanks 🙂
Thanks so much! And yes, definitely a typo—I’ve fixed it. Thanks!
I was just telling my daughter about oil cleansing, and I love this version! I’ll have to try it.
Also, there’s a typo where it says that recipe as written makes 500 g.
Thanks! 🙂
Fixed, thank you! 😀
Can i use btms and cetyl alcohol as cleansing emulsifier and thickener?
I’ve updated the substitutions section to specifically cover this 🙂
Do you think this would work in a airless bottle? I don”t have squeeze tubes available at the moment but I do have the other as well as all ingredients.
I highly doubt it, sadly.
I noticed there is no water in this recipe, so a preservative is not required, right? Looking forward to trying this out!
Read the italic part of the recipe 😉
Could you use Plantamulse ( from the Herbarie) in place of poly 80? Max amount of Plantamulse is 2%, will that change consistency?
I suppose the liquid one is worth a try, though I haven’t tried it myself. It looks like max use for the liquid one is 4%.
Yes I saw that but for creams it’s only 2.5%. 4% is for spays. I think I will try it and let you know.
Best of luck and happy making!
Hello! I love your products, but have found myself veering from them this past year because you seem to be using more synthetic (and less pronounceable), less natural, ingredients in your recipes. Why?
Thanks very much
I wrote an entire post on this 🙂 This is also a good read.
Ooh this sounds lovely Marie, the mint will be so refreshing during the heat we have been experiencing for the last month or so too. AND I have everything:-D definitely going to make this cleanser. Thank you Marie.
Woo! I’m so glad 🙂 Happy making!
Thanks, Marie. I have everything except the squeeze tubes. Can I use a jar for this product? Pros/Cons?
Appreciate your advice.
~Marley
Marley
There are 100 gr squeeze tubes that relatively inexpensive on Amazon. I purchased them but haven’t used them yet.
Don’t use a jar for this project—if you want to use a jar, use a recipe designed for a jar. This one would slop all over and make a big mess, it would be like trying to serve heavy cream from a pot using your fingers 😛
Hi Marie,
On the video, you mentioned using this as part of a 2-part cleansing routine with a foaming cleanser. Do you mean something like your Gentle Chamomile cleanser? http://www.humblebeeandme.com/gentle-chamomile-facial-cleanser/
Thanks,
Emma
Yup! There’s also this one and this one 🙂 I’m currently using this.
This is very similar to a cleansing cream that I bought this year. Very cool Marie! I made this recipe and put it in a GoToob for my friends who are new to oil cleansing. I realized that a regular cleansing oil or cleansing balm might too fussy for them.
Awesome! I bet a GoToob is perfect, too. Those things are so cool 😀 Thanks for making with me!
Do you have any more recommendations for replacing the Polysorbate 80? Can I omit this ingredient? I don’t have any so I want to see if there are more alternatives. Thanks!
I’ve provided two substitutes in the list; you could also use something like water soluble shea butter, but I highly doubt you have that if you don’t have the other listed alternatives.
Perfect timing! I was just about out of my old oil based cleanser and wanting something softer than I made last time to squeeze out easier.
Woo! I look forward to hearing what you think 🙂
Hey Marie!
Thanks for the wonderful recipe. Can’t wait to try it.
I dont have access to vitamin E oil where I stay, can I use the oil from a pierced vitamin E capsule (like Evion 400, tocopheryl acetate) as a substitute anti-oxidant to the vitamin E you use in all your recipes like face serums?
Can adding a little extra vitamin e oil (as I don’t know how much exactly is to be added from a capsule) be unsafe in skin care recipes?
Thank you once again 🙂
I’m going to refer you to Skin Chakra to learn more 🙂
Too much vitamin E isn’t harmful, but it can start to accelerate oxidization. You really should be using a scale to measure things; it doesn’t matter how much is in a capsule if you can weigh it out.
I made it but it did not solidify. As I was figuring out what I did wrong, I noticed I forgot to add the cetearyl alcohol. Is it possible to still add?
Yup-I’d gently melt a portion of the cleansing balm with the cetearyl alcohol and then stir that into the master batch so you aren’t cooking off all the essential oils 🙂
I made this cleanser exactly as the recipe was written, and it set up hard almost like your clay cleansing balm. I put it in a tube but could not get the product out. What do you think went wrong? Should I not have refrigerated it? I ended up reheating it and putting it in a jar….still set up hard. Thanks.
Hmmm–it might be your cetearyl alcohol; mine is 30% cetyl alcohol and 70% stearyl alcohol. Do you know what ratio yours is? I’ve edited the post to reflect what I have for added clarity!
I had exactly the same issue as Kim. It set solid. My cetearyl alcohol was around 33% cetyl to 66% stearyl but I did sub both the oils. I used sweet almond for the coconut and apricot kernel for the castor oil. I’d love to make it a bit softer next time as it worked brilliantly once I managed to dig it out of the tub.
That is so dang weird—I wonder if, perhaps, it’s a bit colder where you are? Or perhaps there is a synergy with the substituted liquid oils that we’re unaware of? In any event, I’m glad it is working once freed from the package and thankfully it is an easy enough thing to make a softer version in the future 🙂 Thanks for DIYing with me!
Hi, could this be compared to a cold cream? I’m having a hard time trying to find a way to formulate a cold cream without using beeswax. By the way, amazing info!
No, not at all. A cold cream needs to contain water and be an emulsion; this is entirely anhydrous. Take a look at my lotion recipes; those will be much closer to what you’re looking for.
Hi marie.Im a newabie here.. You have a nice and informative blog. May I ask why did you put polysorbate-80 in the recipe? Wouldn’t emulsifying wax is enough to solubilize the oils in cooldown phase?
I find I like the blend of the liquid and solid to get both the rinse-off and the consistency I want in the end product 🙂
We LOVE this product: how it feels on the skin, cleans, and softens. We have made two batches, and followed your recipe and video tutorial to the letter. Our question/problem is that it seems to be clumpy, and therefore difficult to squeeze out of the tube (the second batch we even filled slightly less than full to allow room to better massage the tube as it chilled and set. Same outcome). It performs well, just doesn’t seem to be as smooth and creamy as yours is shown.
Thoughts??
Hi Jo!
Climate plays a mean role when you DIY! I worked for almost a year to develop a squeeze tube worthy cleansing balm with kaolin clay before I finally hit the mark! My biggest question is: did you use fractionated coconut oil? And if you did, but truly love the recipe, I’d suggest a tub to hold your product like this cleansing balm instead of a squeeze tube.
Could I use Sucragel in lieu of polysorbate 80 and cetearyl alcohol?
Not really, no—while it is true that they kind of do similar things the process/ingredients would be very different. Check out this sucragel powered option if that’s what you want to use 🙂
Hi Marie!
I have been reading your articles and your recipes for quite sometime now. I cannot tell you how glad I am that I stumbled upon your page, quite early in my diy journey, which helped me to straighten out a lot of things, as I was previously misinformed, mostly about preservatives in diy products.
I so much thank you, because if it weren’t for your page I cannot imagine the frustration and possible dangers that I could had gone through.
I have just made the Eucalyptus Mint Soft Cleansing Balm and it turned out to be gorgeous. This is the first recipe that I make and I am super excited with the result. Thank you so much!
Thank you so much, Stella! I’m thrilled to hear you’re loving this cleansing balm and loving DIYing 🙂 Thank you so much for creating with me!
Hello 🙂
If I leave out the essential oils and use more coconut oil instead, will it make the product eye-safe? Because I’d love to remove my make-up AND eye-make-up in one step with a cleansing balm 🙂
Yup, that should do the trick!
Do you think it would be possible to add SCI to make this into a foaming cleanser?
You could try adding some finely powdered SCI, but with all the oil in here you aren’t going to notice much in the way of lather 🙂
Hi Marie! Great Info! I’m so looking forward to learning and doing. This will be my first venture into DIY formularies 🙂 I want to super enhance that quality you mention in your instructions (copied below) so that it has a “Melt-Away” quality. To do that would I add more Emulsifier? I’m thinking of a product that I really loved “Heimish All Clean Balm”
“Emulsifiers are double-ended molecules; one end loves water, and the other end loves oil. The oil loving end gets all groovy with the stuff on your face you’re looking to wash off, and the water loving end means you can easily wash it all away.”
Yes, the emulsifiers are the thing that add the wash-off capability—but be aware that increasing them can make the skin feel dry after using. I’d recommend making it as written first and then making a stronger version and a weaker version and seeing what you think 🙂 Happy making!
Thank you Marie! I so appreciate your personal reply.